The rumors of my demise are far from true

I’m still here everyone, but work has basically been kicking my ass the last two weeks and I haven’t had a lot of down time for posting.  That in addition the lack of interwebs access at home has made it difficult for me to get my thoughts up.  Stay tuned this week for my LSU thoughts and fleeting thoughts from the two games against Arkansas and Arizona State.

Q&A with Razorback Bloggers

In our buildup to the big showdown in Fayetteville this weekend, I exchanged questions with the John and Stephen over at Arkansas Expats.  They were kind enough to provide a short response regarding players they think should keep both coaching staffs up late at night (Ed. Note: It took every ounce of self restraint I have to not ask some snarky question about Bobby Petrino.  I think I covered it well enough in my post yesterday).  Much thanks and many cocktails to the guys over there for their time and great answer:

Hobnail Boot:  Due to the fact that the Bulldogs and Razorbacks haven’t faced off that regularly since the SEC expanded in 1992, there is a high level of unfamiliarity with each team from the opposing fanbases and coaching staffs.  In your opinion, which player should the Razorback fans and coaching staff be most concerned with and conversely, which player should the Bulldog fans and coaching staff be most concerned with?

Arkansas Expats:  Considering how god awful Arkansas’ defense and special teams play were last year and how weak the Hogs’ season-opening opponent was, let me first say that there are several Georgia players that worry me. If I’m forced to pick just one though, I have to go with A.J. Green.

Last year, the Hogs ranked 10th in the SEC in passing defense, giving up 204.4 yards per game through the air (Arkansas ranked dead last in rushing defense and dead last in total defense. In other words, they were well-rounded.).

 The Hogs appear to have improved the talent in their secondary, and in their only game so far in 2009, they held Missouri State to 123 passing yards. But then again … that was Missouri State. So who really knows how good or bad Arkansas’ defensive backs are?

If the Razorbacks are destined to once again struggle against the pass, then an electric talent like the poweful Green would appear poised to make Saturday night a miserable one for Arkansas – even with Joe Cox taking the snaps.

Like I noted earlier, Arkansas struggled mightily to defend the run last year, so big nights by Richard Samuel and Caleb King – who has just been labeled “very probable” for the game by Mark Richt as I type this – are by no means out of the question. But, Green is the one who will keep me up these next few nights.

As to your second question, I’m going with quarterback Ryan Mallett. His transfer to Arkansas from Michigan was accompanied by a considerable amount of hype – and he just may live up to it. By all accounts, he had a fantastic fall camp and completed 17 of 22 passes for 309 yards against Missouri State (I know, I know – it was Missouri State). Couple all of that with the fact that the Bulldogs yielded 313 yards through the air against the Gamecocks, and I think you guys should be worried about Mallett.

Other names you might be discussing come Saturday night: running back Michael Smith, wide receiver Jarius Wright and tight end D.J. Williams.

 Thanks for the question exchange. It’s been a lot of fun! Good luck Saturday night and the rest of the season.

See my response to their question here.  Thanks once again to the guys over at Arkansas Expats for their time and let’s GATA!

Semi-hate week

Obviously this week is hate week for those that support Tennessee and Florida, but I believe for a lot of the Bulldog fans out there this is a semi-hate week.  Personally, I never had any issues against Arkansas.  My grandfather went to college there and I was raised as a supporter as long as they weren’t playing the Bulldogs.  Then this happened:

Boy, this looks like a great hire! He's just the guy to turn this team around!

Things looked great for us Falcons fans.  We’d seen what Petrino had done with lesser talent at Louisville and were excited to see what he could do with a player like Michael Vick.  Of course we all know what happened to that season.  Vick was arrested in the offseason for dogfighting and the Falcons season suddenly turned to one of great pain and sorrow.  Petrino led a regime that would rival most dictatorships.  He treated his players like children and wouldn’t even speak to them on a face to face basis.  Perhaps that kind of thing works in college and is what makes him a good college coach, but you can’t treat grown men like that especially when most of them make more money than you do.  Thirteen games into that season this happened:

Whoo! I was coaching a different team this morning and plan on being here until next week!

That snake in the grass SOB deserves every bad thing that could possibly happen to him on the football field.  I’ll never deny his greatness as an offensive coach, but what he did to that Falcons team and to the city of Atlanta is unforgivable.  The night before he was hired he assured Arthur Blank , the man who made him the highest paid coach in the NFL no less, that he was not taking the Arkansas job.  The next day he was on a plane to Fayetteville and Blank was burned.  The man didn’t even have the gall to tell his players in person.  He left them a half-paragraph letter distributed by the assistant coaches.

There are even Tech fans that I know that are taking off their Tech glasses just to root for Georgia to lay the wood to this man because of what he did to our city.  Enjoy him while you have him Arkansas fans, because there’s no guarantee that he’ll be there next week.  Bobby Petrino doesn’t coach for the team’s logo on his attire, the players that surround him, or the people who pay him.  He coaches only for himself and when he sees an opportunity that he thinks is better than his current situation he will leave without even giving you so much as a warning.  I hope he loses every game he coaches by 50 points and I hope that Coach Richt somehow senses what this game means to a lot of people in the state of Georgia.  I realize that his only job is to win games for Georgia, but he has to know that a lot of people in the state he resides would love nothing more than to see him take Arkansas to the woodshed.

I thought English was a required course in college…

Maybe not at Auburn.  I don’t know if anyone caught this up at Deadspin yesterday, but apparently there are two Auburn fans that are going to the high school games of a school in Arkansas that houses two of Auburn’s recruits.  As you’ll notice below, spelling is obviously the strong point of an Auburn man’s education.  Keep pumping out the academic scholars, Auburn.  We all need a good laugh.

We can haz recruitz?

Something New

Based on my amazing ability (sarcasm heavily intended) to provide sound advice for games of chance I’ve decided to start a new thing here and will put up picks for five of the weekend’s games. 

Note: All lines come from www.sportsbetting.com and are as of 2:00 on 9/15/09.

Game 1:  Georgia Tech +5 @ Miami – Thursday, 9/17/09

Miami was completely incapable of stopping the run against Florida State and I think Georgia Tech will win this one straight up.

Game 2:  USC @ Washington +20

Washington looked very respectable against LSU and stayed in that game a lot longer than I expected.  They finally snapped their 15 game losing streak last week against Idaho.  Steve Sarkisian is starting something good in Seattle, but I don’t see them getting their first winning streak since beating Washington State to close 2006 and Syracuse and Boise State to open the 2007 season.  The Trojans went on the road for a big win against Ohio State last week and left with their starting QB having injured his throwing shoulder.  I think USC wins, but I’m taking Washington and the points.

Game 3:  Tennessee +29.5 @ Florida

Orson Swindle perfectly summed up what Urban Meyer is so I won’t expand on that.  However, I do believe that Tennessee has the defense that will keep Florida from scoring a ton of points.  The problem is that they don’t have the offense to keep up at all.  I think Florida pitches close to a shut out, but doesn’t cover.  Take Tennessee and the points.

Game 4:  Cincinnati +1.5 @ Oregon State

This game is essentially a pick ’em game and I fully expect the defending Big East champs to head west and handle Oregon State.  Take Cincinnati straight up.

Game 5:  West Virginia @ Auburn -6.5

This game is the most interesting matchup of the weekend to me.  West Virginia looked to be on a one-way street to mediocrity after losing Rich Rodriguez in 2007 and replacing him with Bill Stewart, then losing the best player in the history of the program to graduation in Pat White last year.   Then West Virginia went out last week and looked really good against East Carolina and Jarret Brown appears poised lead this team to a run in the Big East.  We all know the struggles that Auburn faced last year and that the penultimate collapse came last year in Morgantown when they surrendered a 17 point lead by giving up 31 unanswered points to this West Virginia team.  Auburn has gone out and looked very impressive on offense in their first two games against respectable opponents and Gus Malzahn is looking like the real deal right now.  I think this will be close at first, but eventually the Malzahn attack with the dual 100 yard rushers will eventually be too much for West Virginia.  I’m taking Auburn at home to cover.

Those are my picks, kids.  I do reserve the right to be very wrong.  For examples, see my pick for the UGA/South Carolina game.

That was exciting, wasn’t it?

Back to late posting after gameday.  Once again take your shots at the humble blogger’s Auburn grad of a roommate for not ponying up the cash for interwebs access for the late posting. 

What’s Dawgs of Interest are saying about the game

• The Senator has some good stuff up after a second viewing of the game (I think he just enjoys aging faster than the rest of us or something). 
• T. Kyle King lays out the argument for why South Carolina fans shouldn’t be hanging their hands based on posts from Gamecock Man over at Garnet & Black Attack and cocknfire over at Team Speed Kills (I think I jumped to conclusions with the comments I made, but I bet had the shoe been on the other foot I would have very different emotions about the game).
• Bernie has some thoughts on the Special Teams play.
• The boys over at Bubba ‘N Earl love them some Rennie Curran.

Random thoughts as I left Sanford Stadium on Saturday night:

• It was very, very weird not sitting in the student section for the first time in seven seasons.  The crowd is not nearly as fun when you’re not in the middle of a bunch of drunken 19/20 year olds.
• Until Saturday night the fastest player I’d ever seen live on a football field was some combination of Pat White/Steve Slaton tearing it up on the Georgia Dome’s turf.  Branden Smith might be faster.
• We have something very, very special in AJ Green.  I don’t want to turn this into a Julio Jones/AJ Green debate because I think they are both superstars and we’d be lucky to have either, but damn does AJ make the life of a QB easier.
• Rennie Curran is the new David Pollack/Thomas Davis/Greg Blue of this defense.  He is the unquestioned heart and soul and plays like his hair is on fire.  Damn good Dawg.

What I liked:

• Joe Cox showed me something Saturday night.  For all the complaints about how he threw wounded ducks out there, I saw some unexpected zip on passes, particularly the TD to Michael Moore.  That pick-6 was atrocious though and we have to realize that even though he’s a 5th year senior that knows the playbook inside and out, he’s still going to have rookie moments.  There’s a big difference between running an effective practice and bringing that to the playing field.  You can’t stare down a receiver and not expect an All-SEC LB to make the play.  All in all, a good night for him by completing 71% of his passes with 2 TDs and the 1 INT.
• Richard Samuel took that criticism to heart and played like his job depended on it.  He was running like a madmen and was damn near unstoppable in the 2nd quarter on that drive where he capped it off with the 1 yard TD run.  What a night for that young man, although I’d like to see him get a few more touches in the game because he looked like he can be that every-down back that Knowshon has been the last year and a half.
• AJ Green.  ‘Nuff said.
• Touchbacks on kickoffs.  Another ’nuff said.
• Orson Charles’ hands.  Just wow.
• Branden Smith’s ability to turn the corner and recover on coverage.  Wow, that dude is quick.
• Brandon Boykin.  David Hale has been saying all offseason that this was going to be a breakout year for Boykin and boy did he ever break out on Saturday.  Longest play in Bulldogs history coupled with quite an acrobatic INT.  This guy looks like he could be scaring kick-off teams for the rest of the year.  Heck, he scared Spurrier so much that he resorted to pooch kicking the ball to the 35 yard line in the 2nd half.
• The defensive pass rush.  There’s been a lot of criticism after this game about not getting enough pressure on Garcia and letting him pick us apart.  I beg to differ.  I watched the line of scrimmage all night from my seat and the front four was getting a great push and making Garcia uncomfortable.  I counted no less than 4 times that Garcia avoided a sack to make a positive play.  You just have to tip your hat to a guy for playing a career game and realize that other than Tebow Georgia isn’t going to face a more mobile QB.  I feel very good about those guys right now even with the loss of Rod Battle to an ACL tear.
• The red zone defense.  Say what you will about the yardage given up, but when it came to crunch time the defense clamped down and kept the Gamecocks out of the endzone.  Excellent job and 100 cocktails to each of them after all the criticism they’ve taken in the last year.
• Stephen Garcia/Steve Spurrier.  I can appreciate a great performance and we saw two on Saturday from those two.  Steve Spurrier realized that we couldn’t cover the middle of the field and exploited it to a “T”, once again confirming that he might be the greatest play caller I’ve ever seen alongside David Cutcliffe.  Garcia played the game of his life.  He didn’t make the big time throws down the field, but took what the defense gave him and completed the short passes over the middle.  This is a vast departure from the Outback Bowl last year and we might have seen the emergence of that elusive QB that Spurrier has been waiting on in Columbia.
• Not having to hear the “Fire (Insert Name of Assistant Coach)” chants on the way out of the stadium.
• Smoking cigars on North Campus while tailgating with my college buddies.  Muy bien, fellas.
• Being 1-0 in the SEC.
• Georgia state troopers fist-bumping behind Steve Spurrier after Rennie Curran deflected the final pass.  Provide me with their names and addresses and they will both be receiving a fine bottle of bourbon from me.

What I didn’t like:

• Reshad Jones’ luck.  Did the guy pee in the Cheerio’s of the head of SEC officials or something?  What an atrocious call on another good play from Jones who has been absolutely outstanding thusfar this year.  On the other hand, this was a pretty poorly officiated game both ways.  Is it me or does it seem like officiating just gets worse every year?  At what point do we just say “We’re not taking it anymore, replay has to be available for every call.”?
• Turnover margin.  You can’t keep going -5 in TO margin every two games and expect to go 1-1 in them.  This is something that needs to be shored up or it truly will bite us in the ass.  Flip that TO margin to +1 and I argue we’re probably 2-0.
• If you’re going to turn it over, do it on the other side of the field.  For the love of all holy quit giving the opposing offense less than 50 yards to pay dirt.  They’re going to score points and it’s just tough on the defense.
• Time of possession.  At the half, the TOP was 2:1 in favor of the Gamecocks.  The defense can’t be on the field for 20 minutes a half or it won’t make it past game 6.  We’ve got to start sustaining drives.
• The half that wouldn’t end.  That 1st half felt like the longest 1st half in the history or televised football at least from the stands.
• 5-8 yard dumps over the middle.  It was like the death of 1,000 cuts.  Stop that and you effectively ended South Carolina’s only offensive threat.  I have to believe that Bobby Petrino saw that and is just salivating over it.  We’ve got to do a better job of defending that area of the field.  Other than the turnovers, my only defensive complaint of the night.
• Branden Smith taking the ball out of the end zone.  Someone seriously chain him to the goal posts when he practices fielding kicks this week so he gets used to staying there.
• The seeming inability to prevent our lineman’s ACL’s from snapping.  At some point it just isn’t fair anymore.  I feel terrible for Battle as this is his senior year and who knows if he’ll be eligible for a medical redshirt if he elects to try and come back.  I feel for ya, big guy.
• The inability of our tailgaters to clean up after themselves.  I walked back through North Campus after the game and it looked like a landfill.  If someone doesn’t clean up after themselves, they deserve to be flogged mercilessly as far as I’m concerned.  It’s a beautiful campus and lets keep it that way, people.
• Seeing the score of the Houston/Oklahoma State game cross the big scoreboard.  Way to screw the pooch, fellas.  The more I think about it the more I feel like that game was just a huge setup  for us to fail.  Highest hyped game in the history of the program for the highest hyped team in the history of the program on the day that the token bazillionaire opened his new palace had disaster written all over it.  Glad to see they came back to earth.

Anyways, those were my thoughts.  I made this comment on the way out, but that was the 2nd best game I’ve ever attended to Sanford Stadium.  It had everything you could want.  Lots of scoring, late defensive stop near the goal, great catches by receivers, great QB play on both sides, and a rocking atmosphere.  Granted, I may have aged about 5 years in those 4 hours, but it was certainly an unforgettable night. 

The Senator said something along these lines, but it bears repeating.  After watching this team live, I can say that there is a ton of raw talent out there on the field.  Once these guys all figure out where they’re supposed to be and what they’re supposed to be doing, this could be a pretty good ballclub.  I wouldn’t be the least bit shocked to see this team just collectively “get it” at some point this season and go on a 2007-esque run.  I still think this is most likely an 8-4/9-3 team so I don’t expect that to happen, but it sure wouldn’t surprise me.  I think this could be a fun team to watch for better or worse and the talent I saw out there makes me very glad for the stability that Coach Richt has brought to this program that didn’t exist during the 90s.  Anyways, to kick off Hogs week I’ll leave you with this.

It's a bird! No, it's a plane! No, it's AJ Green being a badass!

Skynet prediction…

The computers at Skynet have predicted a Georgia win and Phil agrees.  Last week the computers at Skynet picked an Oklahoma State win and Phil disagreed.  Never bet against the computers at Skynet.  It is only a matter of time before they become sentient beings.

Know thine enemy: South Carolina edition

Well, I was going to waste 1,500+ words giving you a bunch of useless information about South Carolina and Georgia, but I came across the Senator’s preview earlier this morning and realized that it was just perfect.  So in the auspice of being lazy, I have nothing to add except betting advice.  I think Georgia wins the game, but it’s a safe bet to take South Carolina and the 7 points.  As I mentioned yesterday, I think the under in this game (38) is the safest best you’ll make all year other than picking Florida straight up against Georgia.

Well, that’s certainly no good

Joe Schad is reporting that Logan Gray will get the start on Saturday over Joe Cox due to a shoulder problem.  Over at sportsbetting.com, the over/under on the Georgia/South Carolina game is currently at 38.  I’m thinking the under is a very safe bet right now (and my opinion about that over/under was before the reported injury).

Update:  And the storyline gets more interesting.  Let’s see what Coach Richt has to say later this afternoon that will hopefully put this story to bed.

Someone finally said it

If you haven’t already done so today please head over to David Hale’s site and read his current post.  I think this is the best capture of what most Bulldog fans and supporters of the program feel by a member of the media.  The vast majority of Bulldog fans and supporters love Mark Richt and want him here forever.  I certainly know that I do.  What irks us though is the perceived unwillingness to just come out and tell it straight up like it is.  Nothing would have made me happier in the offseason that for him to come to press conference and say something to the effect of “Yes, Florida is in our heads and we need to change that.”  

He could have saved a lot of face if in his Tuesday presser he just came out and said something like “The play on Saturday is unacceptable by the standards that the coaching staff, fans, alumni, and Bulldog supporters set for our team.  We are going to come out to work this week to fix this and we will be prepared on Saturday.”

That’s all we want to hear.  I don’t doubt that the coaches care and I bet they’re mad as hell right now.  The problem is that the only portal we as supporters have into our program is through what the media is able to report to us.  Coach Richt likes to keep it low key and I can appreciate that, but there are times that the media can be your friend.  This comment from Hale sums it up very well and it’s something that I hope that Coach Richt and his staff get a chance to read.

It doesn’t have to be yelling and screaming. It just has to be an occasionally honest assessment of the situation rather than a talking point designed to gloss over the real issues.

Richt doesn’t owe that to me or any other reporter. But the thing is, both what you say and what you don’t say sends a message to the people who care about your program, and right now, fans don’t seem real happy with the message Richt and his team are sending.